Dawn Delivers New Closeup of Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is fast approaching the protoplanet Ceres - one of two asteroids in our solar system that are so large that they may even boast their own unique surfaces and thin atmospheres. Now, photos are coming in from Dawn that show how remarkably round and planet-like this asteroid really is.

"We know so much about the solar system and yet so little about dwarf planet Ceres. Now, Dawn is ready to change that," Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director, recently said in a statement.

The Dawn spacecraft is currently still a whopping 238,000 miles from Ceres, but thanks to its game-changing ion propulsion system, it's closing in fast - at more than 450 mph.

Over the next several weeks, Dawn will deliver increasingly closer images of the dwarf planet, leading up to the spacecraft's capture into orbit around Ceres on March 6. Those images will continue to improve in quality and detail as the spacecraft spirals closer to the protoplanet's surface during the course of a 16-month-long study.

So just what is Ceres and why did NASA send a spacecraft hundreds-of-millions of miles across the solar system to visit it?

It's one of the largest known asteroids in our solar system's asteroid belt - a ring of giant chunks of space rock, ice and dust, that separates the orbits of Mars and Jupiter - so large, in fact, that it was first identified by astronomers in the early 1800s alongside the protoplanet Vesta (which Dawn already visited).

"These two bodies are much more massive than any body yet visited in this region of space and are truly small planets," the Dawn mission team, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), wrote in their mission statement.

"The team is very excited to examine the surface of Ceres in never-before-seen detail," added Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission. According to the team, these early pictures are already hinting at a pitted planetary surface - likely craters.

"We look forward to the surprises this mysterious world may bring," Russell said.

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